


Hunted

by AlterEgon



Category: MacGyver (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:31:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlterEgon/pseuds/AlterEgon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When MacGyver finds himself the target of someone's much-undesired attention, Jack steps in to rescue his friend in his own unique way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hunted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thefrogg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefrogg/gifts).



"Oh, Mac, thanks for taking me along!" Jack righted his hat as he got out of the car. "Really, my car still worked when I parked it in front of your place."

MacGyver nodded absently. The way that car had looked, it was almost a wonder that it had brought Jack all the way _to_ his place. He slammed the driver's door shut and turned towards Jack when he caught sight of a tall, slender woman with a beehive-like platinum blonde hairstyle. She wasn't ugly by any means, but at the moment, she came very close to being his worst nightmare.

He ducked.

"Mac?" Jack turned around and peeked through the car windows at his half-crouching friend. "Mac, are you alright?"

"Tell me when she's gone!" MacGyver hissed at him.

Jack did a 360 degree turn.  "She? Which she are you talking about?"

"Two o'clock. Long legs, big hair," the other man whispered. He kept his head down, not even looking up to see if Jack was looking in the right direction.

He was indeed. The woman was hard to miss. He whistled appreciatively when the door closed behind her.  "You can come out. She's gone."

MacGyver straightened, looking very much relieved.

"Who is she?" Jack wanted to know. "Angry Ex?"

His friend snorted, finished locking the car and started walking towards the exit. "Hardly."

"So why are you avoiding her like that? She's not an assassin, right? Right? Mac, you didn't let me stand there in direct view of an assassin?"

"She's a journalist," Mac clarified. "She's trying to write a story.

Jack didn't quite get where the problem was. "About what?"

Rolling his eyes, MacGyver pushed open the door that led from the underground parking area to the staircase. "About me."

"Oh."

"Yes. Oh." He considered the elevator, but opted for the stairs after a second's hesitation. "She's been after me for a couple of days, showing up wherever I go. She's getting quite –" Mac broke off, looking for an appropriate word.

"I see," Jack said with a contemplative tone. "You've never been the guy to enjoy a lot of attention, have you?"

Unable to determine whether his old friend was being serious or trying for sarcasm, Mac didn't respond at all.

He took the last set of stairs two at a time and had to wait for Jack at the top. "Well," he said. "Time to party. " He opened the door to let both of them in.

The party had been organized by Pete, to celebrate another anniversary of their successful cooperation. MacGyver surveyed the room, spotting familiar faces everywhere. Co-workers, freelancers, people who had helped them in the past, people they – he – had helped… He spotted and waved at Penny Parker, who returned a gleaming smile and a dainty wave, otherwise too preoccupied introducing a young man Mac had never seen before to one of his colleagues. Maybe that was her new boyfriend… good for her!

"Mac – cover. Ten o'clock," Jack muttered into his ear.

Reflexively glancing that way, Mac got a glimpse of platinum blonde and made a sally for the buffet, where he hoped to get lost in the crowd.

Jack remained where he was, boldly scanning the crowd like a ship's captain would scan the horizon for signs of land, or a jet pilot would… he wasn't sure what a jet pilot would scan the horizon for like that, except maybe for enemy pilots, or their planes… In any case, he stood rock-solid, letting the crowd wash around him, silently daring that journalist to approach him and try to make him give up MacGyver. The kind of torture that would loosen _his_ tongue hadn't been invented yet!

And there she was indeed ambling over, head moving back and forth as she was looking for her prey.

He smiled at her, which wasn't difficult because she _was_ quite the attractive woman.

Now she noticed him as well, and adjusted her path towards where he was standing.

"Excuse me," she said. "Can you help me?"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "Gladly," he claimed. "What do you need?"

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Do you  know Mr. MacGyver?" she wanted to know.

He nodded. "My best buddy," he told her, forcing himself not to look even remotely into the direction in which Mac had disappeared.

"Well," she said, "I need to find him. Have you seen him around here?"

Jack nodded knowingly. "He was right behind me," he said. "But he forgot something by the car and went back." He pointed at the door to the staircase. "I'm sure he'll be back any moment."

"Thank you," she said, hand already on the door knob. "I'll just meet him half-way."

Grinning, Jack went to join MacGyver by the buffet, grabbing a plate and heaping it full with anything that was in reach.

"I sent her back down to the parking area," he told his old friend, still grinning. "Though I fear she'll be back."

"Lucky me," MacGyver muttered, trying to weave through the guests, most of which wanted to at least exchange a few words of greeting with him, towards a door that led into one of the side rooms. Maybe he could hide there for a while…

He saw the elevator open and dove into a knot of people, muttering apologies.

All smiles and gallantry, Jack went the opposite way, right towards the lady.

"Did you find him?" he asked innocently.

"No," she admitted. "Are you sure he went back downstairs?"

Jack nodded. "But I saw him come up a few moments before you. He was somewhere around here… but I think Thornton needed to talk to him in private." He silently prayed that she either did not know what Pete Thornton looked like, or that he at least wasn't anywhere within sight. Standing with his back to the crowd, he couldn't really tell, and turning around to check who was present first would have given him away.

"Do you know which way they went, then? " she asked. "I'll wait for them to finish up."

Jack pretended to think about it. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I really don't remember."

With a sigh, she was about to turn away from him.

"Say," Jack went on without missing a beat, "what do you need him for anyway?"

She turned back to him. "I'm writing a series of articles for which I need his first-hand account of how things happened," she told him. "Really, the way that man keeps disappearing on me, you'd think he doesn't _want_ his story told properly."

He grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing tray and handed one to her. "Like which events?"

*

MacGyver eventually emerged from his hiding spot, carefully looking around to check if his current nemesis was anywhere to be seen.

Sure enough – there she was, talking animatedly to non other than Jack Dalton…

…who spotted him and _waved_ to him. That traitor!

Forcing a smile, Mac made his way over there. Jack was sure to get an earful once they were outside.

"Hey, Mac!" Dalton greeted him  cheerfully. "I've been talking to Ms. Sloane here."

"I can see that," MacGyver said drily.

If that was at all possible, Dalton's smile even broadened. "And you know what? I have told her all about some of our adventures. Like the time I rescued you and that horse with that hot-air balloon, and the time—"

"Very nice, Jack," MacGyver said sarcastically. "Say, can I have a word with you? Outside?"

"But Mac!" Jack insisted in the same tone, with the same happy smile, as he walked with him to the door once he had muttered a quick reassurance to be back in a moment to the woman. "Look, she decided to switch the focus of her story. She's not going to write it on you!"

Mac stopped dead in his tracks. "She's not?"

"No!" Jack took a sip of his champagne. "She's writing it on me."

It took a second for the information to sink in, then MacGyver's lips twitched into a smile to mirror Jack's. "Jack," he said, "You're brilliant!"

  
  
Illustration by Rebekah


End file.
